Oregon Sues to Block Federal Crackdown on Safety Net Services for Immigrant Communities

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield joined a 21-member coalition of attorneys general yesterday in a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump Administration’s federal restrictions on public benefits in an unlawful attempt to restrict access to critical health, education, and social service programs.

Oregon Joins Coalition Challenging Trump Administration Federal Restrictions

In a chaotic reversal of agency policy earlier this month, notices were issued prohibiting state safety net programs from serving many residents, regardless of their immigration status.

This about-face threatens access to critical services like Head Start, Title X family planning, adult education, mental health care, and Community Health Centers.

AG Rayfield said:

These changes were issued with no notice, no legal justification, and no plan for how states are supposed to comply.

As of July 10, the US Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education (ED), Labor (DOL), and Justice (DOJ) have been issuing a coordinated set of rules and guidance documents that reinterpret the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA).

In terms of the new interpretation, states are restricted from using federal funds to provide services to anyone who cannot verify their immigration status, regardless of their actual status.

The administration also failed to follow the required procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act.

It violated the Constitution’s Spending Clause by imposing new funding conditions on states without providing fair notice or obtaining consent.

This represents a significant departure from the long-standing federal practice under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The coalition is seeking a halt of the new federal rules and has asked the court to act quickly to protect continued access to some of the nation’s most crucial social services programs, given that some rules took effect immediately or with minimal notice and affect some lawful visa holders and, in practice, even US citizens who lack access to formal documentation.

The new directives are already causing major disruptions as state programs are now expected to comply immediately, despite having no infrastructure in place to do so.

Because most providers cannot implement dramatic regulatory changes overnight, they now face a dramatic loss of federal funding.

Some have warned that, regardless of the time and money they invest, they will not be able to change their practices and therefore face closure.

The coalition asked the court to:

• Declare the new rules unlawful;
• Halt implementation of the new rules through preliminary and permanent injunctions;
• Vacate the rules;
• Restore the long-standing agency practice;
• Prevent the federal government from using PRWORA as a pretext to dismantle core safety net programs in the future.